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(06/07/12 6:20pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.Indiana bills itself as a basketball state, and nowhere is that more apparent than in Bloomington, home of the Hoosiers.Five NCAA titles. Eight Final Four appearances. Twenty Big Ten Conference championships.The Cream and Crimson had won at least seven games in every season since 1915, during the era of 13-game seasons. In 2008, one of the most turbulent moments in IU basketball history sent the Hoosiers crawling back into that cellar again. This time, they were 6-25 by the end of the season instead of 6-7.IU coach Tom Crean and his 2011-12 squad were tasked with getting Indiana back to where it once was. Its collapse from that pedestal, however, took much longer than the three years he’d spent in Bloomington.The end of an eraThe straw that broke Bob Knight’s back fell on Sept. 8, 2000.The then-IU basketball coach learned about allegations of assault, spearheaded by alleged victim Kent Harvey. In May 2000, Knight had been put under a “zero-tolerance” policy by the University and its president at the time, Myles Brand. Two days later, at 3:15 p.m., the University administration announced its decision to fire the winningest coach in its history, the man who earned three of the Hoosiers’ five national championships and 11 Big Ten titles. Rioters swarmed throughout campus and marched on the Bryan House, the on-campus home of IU’s president, following the announcement. They would leave and return later, bringing with them anger and, according to reports by journalists from the time, violence. The groups burned effigies of Brand and Harvey, tore through the Showalter Fountain and battled with riot squads. Then Knight, known by fans as “The General,” returned.He told the crowds this wasn’t the way to show their support and to disperse. Days later, he gave a speech sponsored by the Indiana Daily Student, telling his side of the story and giving them one final message.“Don’t let the student body, the energy, the enthusiasm that the student body has had for basketball — please don’t let that change,” Knight told the gathering of fans that often drowned out his words in applause. “If you want to do something to remember me by, do that. Continue the same energy, the same enthusiasm that the students before you have given to basketball.”The shadow of KnightMike Davis, an assistant under Knight, took over after Knight’s 29 years at the helm. IU administrators named Davis the interim coach for the team until they agreed upon a proper course of action.On March 22, 2001, after a 21-13 season and postseason berth, Davis had the “interim” dropped from his title and became the Hoosiers’ head coach. He led IU to a Final Four appearance in 2002 but was criticized throughout his time at Indiana and admitted to feeling unappreciated by fans and the administration.After just six seasons, Davis could take no more. He resigned Feb. 17, 2006, a season his team finished at 19-12.The shadow of Knight, along with the expectations, was too much.Kelvin Sampson coached at a well-known Oklahoma program and was considered one of the elite coaches and recruiters in the nation. His resume, in terms of accomplishments, was rock solid.However, Sampson brought something other than his abilities, championship mentality and Final Four experience on March 29, 2006. He brought a smudge of 550 impermissible phone calls to recruits, considered an NCAA rules violation. Then-IU Athletics Director Rick Greenspan shrugged off the infractions.In early 2008, the NCAA found Sampson and IU Athletics guilty of “major rules violations” involving the impermissible calls to recruits. On Feb. 22, 2008, he resigned.Sampson’s resignation wasn’t the only blow to the team. IU lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Arkansas after boasting a top-25 ranking all season long. The team self-regulated and forfeited two scholarships in an effort to curb NCAA penalties. Greenspan, too, resigned after bringing in IU’s next head coach — former Marquette dynamo Tom Crean. The Hoosiers lost commitments from several highly regarded prospects and many of their own players along the way.‘It’s Indiana’Despite it all, Crean came.He left Marquette, a Final Four contender and a school where he’d found much success, and came to a soon-to-be bottom-feeder. He didn’t do it for the money or championships or fame.“It’s Indiana,” he said at his first press conference. “It’s Indiana. It’s the absolute pinnacle, and that’s to be the head basketball coach of Indiana University.”Crean said he never doubted his decision, and now, with the pieces in place for the first time in his tenure, the future seems more “normal” for his self-proclaimed basketball school. The violations, the losses and the ridicule seem a bit dulled as the Hoosiers approach prominence again.Still, the team must work to remove the blemish put on it by the events of the past 12 seasons.Regardless of the challenge, Crean said he loved his job and every aspect of it, and that it was a joy to him to be a part of the tradition at Indiana. The third-year Hoosier coach grew up knowing what IU basketball was in the 1970s and ’80s, only to watch what it became two decades later.5.6 secondsThis wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.IU fans expected vast improvement in the 2011-12 season. They expected a tournament berth of some kind — the NIT, maybe even the NCAA tournament if the Hoosiers got lucky.“The Movement,” a moniker coined for Crean’s stellar recruiting class set to hit Bloomington in 2012, was supposed to be the turning point. But somehow, some way, that momentous pivot came a year early.On Dec. 10, 2011, Indiana proved it was on its way back for 39 minutes and 54.4 seconds against then-undefeated and then-No. 1 Kentucky. The Wildcats were one of the favorites to win the NCAA Title at year’s end. They were more athletic, more talented, better in nearly every conceivable way.And yet, the Hoosiers were only down two points with 5.6 seconds to go in the game. The crowd at Assembly Hall — 17,472 fans whose voices combined to be louder than a jet engine at times — was as boisterous and excited as many had seen in decades, let alone Crean’s past three seasons.It was not a perfect game. The Hoosiers scratched. They clawed. They battled. And in the dying seconds, IU had the ball and it had a shot.It was a whisper from the past. The days of Knight, hanging National Championship banners, the time when saying “It’s Indiana” was more than a call back to tradition.After 39 minutes and 54.4 seconds of build-up, the next 5.6 seconds turned that whisper into a resounding roar.Senior guard Verdell Jones, often questioned for his decision-making by fans, made the most veteran play of his career on a brilliant drive-and-kick pass.Junior forward Christian Watford, criticized early in the season by some for his sloppy play coming off of an injury, fired off a 3-pointer Crean could only describe as “perfect” after the game.The ball spun through the air, cutting through a decade of defeat, humiliation and squalor. Watford held his shooting hand to the sky, leaving it hanging because he already knew.The shot sank. Assembly Hall rose to its feet. Within a minute, Branch McCracken Court was no longer visible from above. The years of longing for Knight, aching for redemption and pleading for a miracle were over.After more than a decade on the brink of irrelevance, Indiana basketball was back.*SOURCE: The Arbutus, 2011-2012 issue
(08/11/11 2:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When the IU Board of Trustees voted to raise tuition by 5.5 percent for resident students and 6.7 percent for nonresident students in May, it was just the beginning of a summer characterized by uncertainty for students. IU President Michael McRobbie received a 12 percent pay raise that irked some students and staff, while financial cuts and reorganization led to layoffs across IU libraries. A new Indiana law went into effect requiring students to verify their citizenship or pay the higher tuition of a nonresident student. Then the United States careened toward defaulting on its national debt. A last second deal was made, raising the debt ceiling but at some cost: the loss of subsidized loans for graduate students. With much of this leading to higher costs for students and the unemployment rate struggling to remain below 10 percent, some are starting to ask if college is worth the cost.IS IT WORTH IT?“This is something that really gets asked every 10 to 15 years, since at least 1950,” said Don Hossler, executive director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center and an education professor at IU. “You get these studies comparing high school graduates with college graduates to see if it’s worth the investment.“They look at not only the money spent on college, but also the money you are not earning while you’re there. The opportunity cost.”With college, the opportunity cost can be anything you’ve given up to go to school. For example, the hours you could be working instead of studying for class, the money you could be putting in the stock market instead of paying tuition or the cash you could be spending on food instead of spending on books.Peter Olson, an economics lecturer at IU, said it’s important to consider not only the opportunity cost, but also the direct cost of tuition.“You balance those costs against the benefits,” Olson said. “The return for an additional year of schooling has historically been around 7 percent. In the 90s, it went up to 9 or 10 percent.”The degree itself has an additional 9 percent rate of return, Olson said. Those percentages are increases in earnings.But for someone to have earnings, they’ll need a job first.AND HOW'S THE JOB MARKET LOOKING?In 2010, the unemployment rate for those with a bachelor’s degree was at 5.1 percent — the highest rate since records have been kept. This year, it’s around 4 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The national unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent this summer. In Indiana, the rate improved from last year, but still hovers around 8.3 percent. Hossler said during the recession of 1973 to 1975, the country was in a similar situation and asking itself the same kinds of questions.“There was an issue of TIME Magazine, and the cover showed two students digging ditches,” Hossler said. “We’ve been through these cycles before; but the evidence suggests that while things are not as positive as they were five or seven years ago, there is still a good return rate. The rate for master’s degrees is even higher.”There’s even a possibility that, within the next few years, undergraduate degrees will become even more valuable, he said.“Some predict that there will be a shortage of college education degrees,” Hossler said. “People like me will be retiring. And there are not enough people in the pipeline to replace these folks.”There’s also the possibility, however, of another change. And this one isn’t as positive.“Unless the payoffs increase, the return goes down,” Olson said. “You have a lot of people talking now about an educational bubble, just like any other asset bubble.”While there has not been an educational bubble before, the effect would be like when any other economic bubble bursts, such as real estate or internet companies in the late 1990s. The value of that asset would be downgraded, Olson said. Entry-level salaries would be smaller and lifetime earnings would be lower.“College wouldn’t be worthless,” he said. “It would just be worth less.”RETENTION HEADACHEOf course, all of this rides on whether you even get a degree. Going to college and graduating from college are two very different things.In a recent report co-authored by Hossler and released by IU’s Project on Academic Success and the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, plenty of people are still finding college to be a necessity they are willing to pay for.During the recession, a time when many thought higher education would be a casualty of the sinking economy, public four-year universities saw hardly any change at all, the study showed. Enrollment at community colleges actually increased. Colleges across Indiana are seeing record enrollment this year, the state’s Commission of Higher Education reported, but the graduation rate remains relatively low.Within four-year programs, only one-third of students actually complete college in four years. Even after six years, only half of the students in the program graduate. Across Indiana and the country, only 25 percent of students complete two-year programs in three years.Many students never graduate at all.“We encourage someone who wouldn’t go to college to go to college,” Olson said. “The question is: Is that actually beneficial? A lot of people don’t finish school. If these policies encourage people to waste a year or two of their lives, I’d consider it a misguided policy.”There are many different aspects to consider when looking at how successful a college graduate will be, or even if they’ll graduate, Hossler said.Different colleges have different policies to help with retention, he said, and different students have different backgrounds. What a student majors in also has an impact on the rate of return.“It’s important to look at not just college kids across the board compared to high school graduates, but also the variation upon majors,” Hossler said.With so many variations and paths, college is not a guarantee, Olson said. But, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it.“For the average student, there’s still a positive return to getting a degree,” Olson said. “In other words, college still pays for most students. It’s still worth it for most. But most doesn’t mean all.”
(05/12/11 1:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sylvia Martinez, an IU assistant professor of education and Latino Studies, noticed a sign written in Spanish at 6th Street and College Avenue on Tuesday. It read “Bienvenidos a Bloomington” – in English, “Welcome to Bloomington.” A day earlier, a very different message was sent to Indiana’s Latino community, according to several Bloomington residents.Gov. Mitch Daniels signed SB 590 and HB 1402 into law Tuesday, pieces of legislation that restrict work opportunities for illegal immigrants and deny them in-state tuition for tertiary education, respectively. In an act of protest, two IU students, juniors Erick Gama and Uriel Omar Gama (who goes by Omar), entered the lobby of Gov. Daniels’ office, along with three other individuals. They were arrested about 20 minutes later on the grounds of trespassing.Cesar Escovar is the regional director for Lambda Upsilon Lambda, a Latino fraternity the Gama brothers are members of. Escovar said the brothers believed there was a possibility they could be arrested, but they were expecting to meet with the governor. The brothers had made efforts to reach Gov. Daniels in the past to speak with him about SB 590 and HB 1402, but their requests were denied.Erick and Omar, who entered the country at a young age and both children of undocumented immigrants, saw the protest as a last chance.“The action that they took on Monday was out of desperation and was a last resort,” Escovar said. “If this law was passed, which it has now, they would not be able to afford even staying in school. They had nothing to lose in that aspect.”Indiana is one of several states that have acted on anti-immigration legislation recently. Fabio Rojas, an IU associate professor for sociology and Latino Studies, said the movement has much to do with politicians playing off of stigma against immigrants during a trying economic period.“Right now, we’re in a very tough time for immigrants,” he said. “Across the country, there have been a number of initiatives aimed at restricting immigration or controlling people who come to this country illegally.”Despite its social implications and its connection to identity, Rojas said he is shocked the immigration debate has reached this state.“I’m surprised an issue like this even comes up in Indiana,” he said. “As a percentage of the whole state, immigrants are actually a very small percentage. I find all of this very dismaying.”Indiana is home to 6.25 million residents, and only 170,000 of those are foreign-born, non-U.S. citizens, according to the most recent data by the U.S. Census Bureau. Immigrants without citizenship total less than three percent of the state’s population, and not all of that three percent are considered “illegal.”For the undocumented percentage of the immigrant population, costs of in-state education at IU would triple. With these costs, along with barriers to employment caused by SB 590, Indiana cuts off the majority of opportunities for illegal immigrants, said Christiana Ochoa, professor and Charles L. Whistler Faculty Fellow in IU’s Maurer School of Law.“What the Latino community is hearing is that they are now living in a hostile environment,” said Ochoa, who is also a professor in the Latino Studies program.“It is much more difficult to live, to work, to be a student in this state if you’re undocumented. ... It makes it very difficult for individuals who have been here in that capacity to continue to function in the way that they have.”Fellow law professor Luis Fuentes-Rowher said he does not understand the motives behind SB 590 and HB 1402. He said there seems to be no logic behind the legislation other than getting immigrants — some too young to decide to come to the U.S. — to “just leave.”“What is gained by preventing illegal immigrants or the children of illegal immigrants?” he said. “What is gained from preventing them from getting a college education? In the end, you end up creating an underclass.“You either round them up or ship them back, or I’d hate to imagine what’s going to happen to them.” Martinez argued that preventing illegal immigrants from attaining higher education will be a detriment to the state itself, not just the undocumented population.“If we really want to think about economic contributions that this population can make, then we need to think about that,” she explained. “Let’s get them educated and give them that opportunity so that they can get good jobs and pay taxes.”The anti-immigration legislation Gov. Daniels signed into law Tuesday comes less than five months after the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act was effectively tabled in the U.S. Senate. That bill was co-sponsored by Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, a Republican. Lugar retracted his support from the latest introduction of the DREAM Act in interest of the 2012 campaign.“Notice what’s happening to Lugar today,” Fuentes-Rowher said. “People are arguing that he’s not a real Republican. There’s the idea that he’ll be challenged in the primary next year. People are really upset. Last time he won, it was like a 60 percent landslide.”Ochoa said the efforts of those in Indianapolis on Monday, while commendable, will probably have little effect, and the chances of Gov. Daniels altering his plans are slim.“I highly doubt it,” she said of the possibility of change. “Unfortunately, the power of civil disobedience is limited. The momentum behind this kind of legislation is unfortunately very strong.”
(10/29/10 2:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A tweet about a stressful day, delicious lunch or relaxing afternoon might not have much to do with the stock market.However, research by Johan Bollen, an associate professor in the School of Informatics and Computing at IU, supports speculation that these components could be related.Bollen conducted an empirical study of more than 10 million Twitter posts — tweets — during 10 months in 2008. His findings revealed a startling correlation between aggregate mood expressed on Twitter and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.The predictions are nearly 90 percent accurate up to a week in advance of the Dow’s close.“Really, it’s no surprise,” Bollen said of his findings. “You’ve got 140 million people on Twitter right now. That’s become a good segment of society.”Bollen met resistance in the financial field when he and his fellow researchers attempted to publish their study. He said he thinks many people in the financial sector think of social networks as “playthings.” However, Bollen said he believes these networks provide more than entertainment.“If you look at the numbers — the sheer numbers — you have 500 million people on Facebook, at least 140 to 150 million people on Twitter,” he said. “These are environments that have become larger than most industrialized nations.”Some experts believe the volume of people on Twitter doesn’t provide credibility to the study. Robert Klemkosky, a stock market expert on the Chicago Board of Trade and former chairman of the finance department at the Kelley School of Business, said Twitter users aren’t the ones effecting a change in the New York Stock Exchange.“The fact is that trading on the NYSE is not done by people who Twitter,” said Klemkosky, who currently works in South Korea as the founding dean of a graduate business program there. “Half the trading activity on the NYSE is done by computers, called high-frequency trading, and another 40 percent is done by institutional investors, such as mutual funds, pension funds and exchange-traded funds.”This analysis casts doubt on the results of this study, but Bollen is quick to defend his claims.“Let me put it this way — I find it very difficult to understand why the mood states of people that are not directly invested, why that still wouldn’t have any effect on the markets,” he said. “The markets are driven by a whole bunch of things.”Other research provides support for Bollen’s argument. A study by Werner Antweiler, a business professor at the University of British Columbia, and Murray Frank, a finance professor at the University of Minnesota, found a correlation between discussion on stock market chat rooms and individual stocks.The study, titled “Is All That Talk Just Noise? The Information Content of Internet Stock Message Boards,” was a finalist for a 2004 national award. The professors’ research discovered that the correlation between volume of message board posts and return on the stock is stronger than many other tools of comparison, such as trading volume.Scott Smart, the director of the Corporate Finance Academy at Kelley, said Twitter is essentially “the new chat room,” and that this finding promotes evidence of a possible correlation between Twitter and the Dow Jones.Further individual research by Paul Tetlock, a professor of finance at the Columbia University, and Joseph Engelberg, a finance professor at the University of North Carolina, suggest similar correlations, Smart said.Tetlock’s work shows a relationship between the words media outlets use when describing a company’s outlook and the performance of its stock. Engelberg’s research indicated a connection between the attitudes of the public toward the economy and the performance of stocks.“Their studies seem to suggest you can predict which way a stock is going to go based on the direction of the language, basically,” Smart said.Bollen said the greatest indicator of the market’s performance was associated to collective calmness versus collective anxiousness. He stressed his assumptions about causation were speculative and the relationship he found was purely a correlation.However, Bollen provided reasons as to why these feelings have the greatest effect.“Investment strategies are largely driven by the expectation of profit,” he said. “If we’re nervous, in essence that means that we’re a little more anxious and also perhaps a little more anxious about our investments. That may make us more reluctant to invest.”A separate issue regarding Bollen’s study involves the long-term influence of Twitter on the market. Bollen’s predictions were accurate up to a week in advance, but such mood studies might not be as accurate in the long run.“Whether you’re looking at this for a few months, or you’re looking at it for a few years, you could say, ‘What does the communication on Twitter say about the market next week, and what does it say about the market next year?’” Smart said. “That is the long-term effect. And that, I think, is almost certainly going to be zero.”Although the effect might be negligible, Bollen argued that even a slight advantage based on the algorithm he provides could prove highly beneficial to investors.“Let’s just say it turns out that we do this for very long periods of time, and instead of 86.7 percent accuracy, you only have 55,” Bollen said. “Well, that’s still a five percent edge. If I had a billion dollars, I would be very interested in a 5 percent improvement.”Bollen emphasized he did not think his findings were “the trade mechanism.”His goal, Bollen said, was to show that information about public mood contains valuable socioeconomic information. Despite claims of the prevalence of young people on Twitter and the idea that social networks are purely for entertainment, Bollen said the influence of people’s moods on these forums cannot be ignored.“I think that that’s also an old story,” he said of the concerns about Twitter. “I think if you look at the mere scale, it’s increasingly becoming a good reflection of our society overall.”Bollen said despite the current lack of causation, there is no reason to assume there is nothing to learn from his work.“Sometimes, a correlation is just a correlation, but it’s a really good starting point,” he said. “We do that all the time.”
(10/18/10 4:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Economics professor Eric Leeper said predicting the effects of economic policy is difficult, even for economists.“If you say, ‘What’s the effect of the stimulus package?’ and you ask a room full of economists, you’ll get a room full of answers,” Leeper, an expert in macroeconomics and fiscal policy, said.But politicians running for office often have no trouble boasting about how simple, clear-cut and beneficial their economic platform is, despite the challenges those with years of experience in the economic field have when defining possible outcomes. And the candidates in this year’s midterm election, economists said, are no different.Missing the big pictureCandidates will often follow similar jargon — “lower taxes,” “support small business,” “provide more education funding” and “protect U.S. jobs,” to name a few of the typical policies economists cited — in an attempt to draw more votes. “In reality, once you kind of parse through the jargon and whatnot, it doesn’t make economic sense — or, very simply, in some cases, common sense,” Economics professor Paul Graf said.Oftentimes, policy-makers will use these terms to draw on the emotions attached to them without showing where the burden of the new policy will fall. They don’t address the opportunity costs — what it costs a person to get one good in terms of another good — of their policies.While candidates might only address the benefits of a policy to serve their platform, they might also do so because they don’t fully understand the potential downsides of the policy.Gerhard Glomm, chairman of IU’s Department of Economics, said this often leads to general, simplified statements that can overestimate or underestimate the positives or negatives of a fiscal policy.“It’s relatively easy to say, ‘Look, if you put a plant here... This plant will employ ‘X’ workers,’” Glomm said. “It’s not clear that the number ‘X’ is net job creation. These workers could have come from the next county and given up that job for a better job.”Leeper said the complexity of conducting economic experiments provides further incentive for candidates to steer away from the subject. “Fundamentally, economics is an incredibly difficult subject,” he said. “I think politicians want to have nice, simple, clean answers, but economics can’t deliver those.”Economics of politicsThe reason this happens, Graf said, involves the incentives the politician has for running for office.Politicians, he explained, have two roles: to represent their constituents and to keep their jobs. These motives can sometimes conflict when looking at how politicians react to a nationally-beneficial policy that could potentially hurt their constituents.“For example, if a politician comes from a region where there’s a defense contract, and they’re talking about cutting the budget in defense, that politician may argue for keeping the contract alive,” Graf said. “However, that type of spending or that type of bill might be increasing the deficit, and the benefit for that region might be smaller than the actual cost to the entire economy.”Glomm said candidates who don’t fully explain their policies are not trying to be "crooks" or deceive voters. Much of their rhetoric has to do with the very concept they're discussing."If you're a politician, you have very little incentive to say, 'Here's my policy proposal. Here are four advantages and five disadvantages,'" Glomm said. "As soon as you say, 'Here are five disadvantages,' your opposition will say, 'Look at this. This guy's an idiot.'"Glomm said these criticisms should be looked at carefully."There's no policy that I know of that will make everybody better off," Glomm said.The concept of opportunity costs suggests such a policy would be impossible to create.It's human natureUltimately, the burden of ignorance of the costs of a policy falls on the people. However, even with complete understanding, the conflict between what is best for an individual and what is best for society still exist.In this case, it becomes what is best for a district or a state versus what is best for the nation."There's always conflict, there's always disagreement — self-interest versus societal interest," Graf said. "How do you solve it? It's a tough thing to do."However, Graf said he thinks people are starting to realize the severity of the nation's current economic situation. That awareness, he said, is key and might change the mentality of politicians when it comes to policy-making."I think people are willing to tighten the belt provided politicians also tighten the belt," he said.Graf said he is optimistic that eventually, people will understand the need to take on additional burdens in order to promote the success of the whole of the nation.Still, his knowledge of his profession makes that belief difficult."As an economist, knowing human behavior and being a human myself, sometimes it's tough," he said.Graf said while there is often not one correct answer to be found among today's political alignments, the fact that members of each group are attempting to improve the lives of those around them is encouraging."Whether you like the Tea Party, the Democrats, the Republicans, the Libertarians — I applaud them all in their interest to do what's right," he said. "I think more of that — more awareness — is the key. Start with awareness, and let's see where we go from here."
(10/18/10 4:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In an interview with the IDS, IU economics professor Paul Graf addressed each candidate’s economic policies in this fall’s election. He detailed the positives and negatives of each candidate’s economic platform and provided insight into their potential impacts.BARON HILL, Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives District 9Hill supports the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 and publicly funded developments, which could offset each other based on the economic concept of “crowding out.” It is possible that employment by the government could reduce employment at a smaller institution, taking away revenue for those businesses.GRAF “On the simple surface of applying the basic economic model pertaining to crowding out, then this could be the potential. If this sort of policy takes away from the small businesses, then it crowds out. The only way you could prove or disprove that is to look at similar legislation and its effects as measured by economists or elsewhere. But the potential is definitely there. The theory says that.On the surface, without understanding basic economics or the basic fiscal policy of economics and the potential offsets, this sounds like a wonderful plan. The response to the incentives or the response by business to this new player of government coming into play — that’s what people fail to recognize.”TODD YOUNG, Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives District 9 Young supports cuts in government spending, reducing borrowing from foreign countries and cutting current tax rates. He claims such policy will reduce government debt. However, a quick change in policy could drastically alter the economy and produce a crippling shock on all fronts.GRAF “It’s like a big pendulum that swings. On the one hand, you want the government to be in the marketplace. You want the government — it is necessary. So a lot of times, we slide toward a little more government, and a little more government, and a little more government in the case of stimulus or jobs packages. I think the feel today is that the pendulum has swung too far for people. So now you bring in a candidate like a Todd Young who says, ‘Okay, we’re going to go all the way back.’ And now the pendulum swings, and now it might be going too far the other way, towards all free markets, minimal government.Most people, I think, somewhere fall in between the middle of the pendulum, if you will. They want government. They see it’s necessary. They just don’t know how much.He is correct in that, if we get our deficit down, then we don’t necessarily have to borrow from others. But, again, that is such a wide swing. The path that we’ve been on, to completely cut cold turkey like that, is just too much of a shock to the economy.”GREG KNOTT, Libertarian candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives District 9Knott supports legislation known as FairTax. FairTax is a national sales tax that would replace the current tax system in the U.S., which is based on a national income tax. He argues FairTax would relieve the lower-class tax burden and enhance economic growth.GRAF “It’s extreme because you go from an income-based tax to a consumption tax. So if I’m worried about paying taxes, I change my consumption behavior. There is some good economic appeal to a consumption-based tax like a national sales tax because putting a tax on my spending habits may encourage me to save, and saving is another method of long-term economic growth. One of the knocks on the United States is that we don’t save enough.The danger, once again, in doing what appears to be a very simplified solution — going from a progressive-based tax system, or federal income tax, to a consumption-based tax — is the implementation.I think the easiest way to do it is to just make a national sales tax — literally. There, it’s easy to implement. People understand it. They can see it. They can make decisions based on it. It’s very straightforward.If you start trying to bring a level of fairness into it ... you’re bringing that level of complexity you had with the income tax, and I would question that.”
(10/18/10 4:19am)
Economics Professor Paul Graf responds to the economic policies proposed by the Indiana candidates for U.S. Senate.
(10/14/10 4:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Freshman cyclist Eric Brodell was getting ready for a typical day of training with his team, the Cutters, as he talked with his roommate and longtime friend Josiah Lamb.It had rained just once in Bloomington so far this semester, and for the first time, Brodell was putting on his cold gear.The weather didn’t bother the latest addition to the 11-time men’s Little 500 champions too much.“He was bitching about how he hadn’t got his covers for his shoes, his little neoprene socks to put over his cleats,” Lamb recalled. “It wasn’t raining at the time he left. I mean, it was wet, but it wasn’t raining.”As Lamb got ready to head to dinner, Brodell told Lamb he would be back at 6:30 p.m., leaving his cell phone on his desk.3:30 p.m.Freshman Taylor Haville was saying goodbye to his longtime friend Brodell outside Eigenmann Hall before Brodell left for his ride. Brodell had stopped by, per Haville’s request.As Haville watched his friend cycle away, Brodell rode out of the parking lot and tried to come to a stop. Brodell’s back brake locked up, then the front, and the wet conditions sent him skidding toward a car.“He almost T-boned it,” Haville said.Brodell managed to slide to a stop before he hit the car and then pedaled off to practice with his reigning champion team.5:30 p.m.While Lamb ate dinner, he received a call from a friend who lived in West Lafayette, Brodell’s hometown. The friend’s mother had just heard from Diane, Brodell’s mother. She was on her way to Bloomington; her husband had left shortly before.“Do you know what’s happening with Eric?” the friend asked.“I haven’t seen him since five,” Lamb replied.For the next 45 minutes, Lamb called several hospitals, hoping to find out where Brodell was. He finally heard from a mutual friend that Brodell was in the emergency room of Bloomington Hospital. He and two fellow Cutters had been struck by a car while on their ride.The accident occurred at 5:05 p.m. on Ind. 446. Brodell suffered a deep laceration to his left leg that severed scar tissue but caused no bone damage. The other two riders, senior Eric Young and junior Michael Schroeder, suffered less severe injuries.“I was more confused than anything,” Lamb said, sitting in a chair waiting for his turn to see Brodell. Only a light-brown wooden door separated him from his best friend. “I hadn’t really heard what was going on. ...Nobody knew anything. I wasn’t really aware of the extent of the injury, so I kind of tried to keep an open mind.”Lamb was involved in a minor accident of his own a week ago, when a driver clipped Lamb’s handle bar with his rearview mirror and ran Lamb off the road. The driver drove on, and Lamb brushed himself off.“I figured it was something like that,” Lamb said.Once he discovered how wrong he was, Lamb leapt onto his bike, pumped the pedals and sped toward Bloomington Hospital.He wore a white v-neck T-shirt, a gray zip-up hoodie, dark green Nike training pants, ankle socks and gray slippers as he took off into the rain.6:45 p.m.Lamb arrived at the ER, 10 minutes after Haville and six other friends.Haville was visiting Brodell while the others updated Lamb on Brodell’s status. There were suggestions Brodell would need to be airlifted to Indianapolis for surgery. Lamb guessed that wouldn’t happen, but nothing was certain.“I’m no doctor,” Lamb said. “I’m a jazz major. I play trumpet.”8:15 p.m.As Haville entered his friend’s room, Brodell turned on his side, exposing a torn cycling jersey that lay beneath his body.Brodell would not have to be taken to Indianapolis and would spend the night in the hospital for surgery. Soon his parents arrived. One by one, Brodell’s friends took turns seeing him.“It was definitely a relief in the fact that it could have been a lot worse,” Haville said. “But it was definitely kind of heartbreaking because I know how much he likes biking right now. To have him sit out and have to watch while they all bike, it kind of sucks, but he’ll be back in it.”10:10 p.m.While Brodell was being prepped for surgery, most of the visitors left to give him space.As they drove out of the hospital parking garage, a mural could be seen painted across the lower level.It is a tribute to IU and the Little 500, a race Brodell might someday ride.
(10/11/10 3:54am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Until recently, sexual health educators and health professionals based their assumptions about sexual behavior on data from nearly two decades ago.The National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior, a study by IU researchers that was published Oct. 1, changed that, giving both practitioners and the general public access to the latest information on American sexual practices. Church & Dwight Co., Inc., the producer of Trojan products, funded the study.“This large and important study legitimizes all of the questions and concerns that we have about sex and about who we are and about where we fit in this world,” said Logan Levkoff, a sexologist and relationship expert hired by Church & Dwight Co., Inc. to analyze the data IU compiled.The data includes 5,865 people from the ages of 14 to 94. The survey asked questions about types of, frequency of and patterns of sexual acts performed, as well as if protection such as a condom was used. “We’ve never had enough data of this type that’s been conducted at multiple points across the history of the country to really make a ton of comparisons,” said Michael Reece, director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion and a co-author of the study. This study, the first of its kind done since the Internet began being widely used, gives a broader picture of sexuality in the U.S., something Debby Herbenick, associate director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion and an author of a book on sexual health, can appreciate.Herbenick has taught about human sexuality for IU in the past, and the information she provided students before didn’t really apply to them, she said.“I was teaching them about things that happened either before they were born or when they were babies,” Herbenick said of the only previously-available research. “That’s ridiculous.”Some important information provided included trends in adolescents from ages 14 to 17, women’s and men’s perspectives about sexual behavior and tendencies for sexual behavior across age groups.Dennis Fortenberry, a medical practitioner and professor of pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine, said the information on adolescents debunked many commonly-held myths about sex among young people. Sex among teens was shown not to be as prevalent as the media often portrays it to be, and condom use among this group is much higher than some would expect, researchers said.“That’s the important part,” Fortenberry said. “It suggests that the reality of adolescent sexual behavior is not that it’s such an overwhelming part of young people’s day-to-day lives. That doesn’t mean that it’s not important, but it does mean that a lot of our perceptions — that teenagers are just having sex with anybody all of the time — is simply untrue.”The study also showed that communication between sexual partners was crucial to pleasure during sexual acts. Herbenick cited that the data shows 30 percent of women experience pain in some form during sex, while only 5 percent of men feel discomfort.“We know from other research that about 10 percent of women have a diagnosable pain condition called vulvodynia, so you expect at least that,” she said. “But 30 percent is huge.” The pain symptoms could happen for a number of reasons, but communication between partners seems to be the most plausible, said Kathryn Brown, a sexual health educator at the IU Health Center’s Department of Health & Wellness Education. Brown said she thinks questions such as “How does that feel?” aren’t asked enough.“If these questions aren’t asked and discussion doesn’t ensue, then these issues of lack of satisfaction from not having an orgasm to actually feeling pain during a sexual encounter will likely continue,” she said.This information could give those across age groups, especially college-aged people, comfort in their sexual behaviors, whether they are not sexually active or highly active in sexual activities.“There is no one ‘normal,’ and I think that’s a really healthy perspective for college students to get,” Levkoff said.Studies such as these, Reece said, are often hard to conduct given the stigma given to sexual behavior research. This is why his group’s work is so vital.“The field of sex research has always been controversial,” he said. “The Kinsey Institute has always found itself having to justify why it does the work it does. People have always been skeptical of whether sex research is really important.”More than 35,000 people had downloaded the study as of press time. However, Reece said if this research is not conducted more regularly and better funded, problems similar to the one faced by practitioners before the survey will happen again.“I hope it doesn’t take 20 years before the next study is funded,” he said. “I’m hoping that people will see this as valuable and beneficial and that will then encourage someone to do this again. I’d love to see this done every five years, and if not every five years, I’d love to see it done at least every 10.”Levkoff said the research performed at the Kinsey Institute and within other departments was crucial to mapping the contemporary trends of sexual behaviors.“I think we’re starting to see, with respect to research, a really broad picture of sexuality, from the life span issues to health issues, as well as pleasure,” Levkoff said of research performed at IU. “That’s really starting to create this incredible, holistic perspective of sexuality that we really haven’t seen in a long time.”
(10/08/10 4:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU baseball coach Tracy Smith thought he knew what the answer would be when he got in his car on June 10.Ohio State officials had offered him an interview for their newly-vacated head coaching position. Former Buckeye coach Bob Todd had retired, and there it was — the job all his friends and colleagues told him was perfect for him.A job that came with better facilities, an unlimited budget and a bigger stadium. A job that was better on paper in nearly every way, his for the taking, just four hours away in Columbus, Ohio.On that Thursday in June, Smith left Bloomington, saying to himself, “I’m gonna take this job.”Smith was a self-described “Ohio man,” a graduate of Miami University of Ohio, who already had friends within the Ohio State Athletics Department. This was his dream. There was no chance he could pass it up.***Smith is leery of mottos and sayings. Most of the time, he said, they wind up being nothing more than cliches, with no substance to them. Empty promises. Hollow words. Though they once meant something, now they are just withered characters on a piece of paper.That is why the 11-by-14-inch frame he keeps in his office sticks out. It seems an insignificant piece when compared to the wall-wide, ceiling-high wooden shelf it rests on. But those who have spoken to Smith, those who know the story of why he still sits in this office, know that it is one of the most important items in the room.The crimson letters read “The Spirit of Indiana: 24 Sports, One Team.” And unlike most mantras he comes across, Smith knows this one works.***Smith appreciated how well IU Athletics Director Fred Glass handled the situation. While it was obvious Glass did not want Smith to leave the department, Glass also made it clear that he cared most for Smith’s well-being.Glass wanted what was best for Smith’s family. He didn’t want Smith to have any “what-ifs.” As Smith walked through the athletics offices in Ohio State’s sprawling campus, visiting with administrators and coaches from the university’s 35 programs, a question kept creeping up from the back of his head.In reality, he was looking for the attitude Glass conveyed.“Could I walk down the hall and have this conversation with this administrator in the middle of the day without making an appointment a month out?” he thought. “Could I go down and interact with this coach and go have lunch with them or sit in their office without having to set something up with them in advance or driving 20 minutes across campus?”***Smith sees “The Spirit of Indiana” as anecdotal. He bases his definition of what it means in that mentality being put into action.He recalls a drive to IU’s Memorial Stadium while speaking with a fellow Big Ten baseball coach. During the conversation, Smith brought up how well his team works with the football team when it comes to scheduling workouts in John Mellencamp Pavilion, which both teams share as a practice space.“You are so lucky to have that kind of setup, that kind of environment,” the other coach said.He remembers when IU men’s basketball coach Tom Crean, a little more than an hour before tip-off of a game at Assembly Hall, sat and spoke with then-baseball recruit Micah Johnson about being a Hoosier. Johnson joined the IU baseball team last year and started every game for the Hoosiers.Smith sees the Hoosier mentality as “a selfless mentality.” Coaches text each other after games to congratulate them or console them. Glass leaves his doors open to coaches and tries to make himself as accessible as possible to his staff. Those are the intangibles that spirit has to offer.As Smith said, “Money and big stadiums don’t buy you happiness.”***At the end of the day, Smith knew where he stood with Ohio State’s department. He had also made his decision. He got in the car and began the four-hour drive back to Bloomington.His first call was to his wife. His second, to Glass.On that Thursday in June, Smith returned to Bloomington, after saying to Glass, “I’m not doing it.”***Smith said Ohio State was missing the intangibles IU has. At the time of his job interview, the motto did not yet exist. But the feeling did. “I didn’t know it at the time, but I guess I was describing ‘24 Sports, 1 Team,’” Smith said. “That’s why I stayed — that mentality.”He said he has no regrets about his decision. He hasn’t doubted himself for even a second since he came back from Columbus — “not even close.”“A lot of my colleagues in the business thought I was nuts,” he said. “My response to them was, ‘Until you’ve walked in my shoes and lived in Bloomington, Indiana, and worked in this athletic department, you have no idea.’”He says the reaction from others within the IU Athletics Department was different. Some were shocked to see him back, stunned to hear he was staying. However, most understood. “They said, ‘Wow — But I get it,’” he recalls. “There, I felt like you were one of 34 sports. You were another cog in the machine. At Indiana, I don’t feel that way. This is a unique place, man. I don’t think you’ll find this formula in many other places in the United States.”Along with the IU mantra, Smith also believes in the saying, “If it’s important, write it down.” That is why when Glass put the sentiment he and others in the department feel toward the University in writing, he took that frame and put it in his office.Smith said he will live in Bloomington when he’s done coaching. His wife settled that fact in the mid-’90s, when he was an assistant coach at IU.“She said, ‘We will retire in Bloomington, Indiana, whether you’re coaching here or not,’” he said with a smirk and a twinge of laughter.Now, this self-described “Ohio man” has redefined himself as an “Indiana man.” He is living out his dream. And there’s no way he will give it up.
(10/07/10 5:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Chris Lingner is a featured performer for The Baker Dances, one of four dances that make up A Choreographer’s Evening. He started dancing when he was 5 years old and was a member of the original cast of Hairspray. Here is what he had to say to the IDS about the upcoming performances.IDS: What got you involved with this production, specifically The Baker Dances?Lingner: For this particular program, they brought in people from various different companies that set ballets. They take a look at us, and from there they decide who does what. For The Baker Dancers, (choreographer) Josh Bergasse noticed me and wanted to use me. He did the national tour of Movin’ Out, and I did as well, although not at the same time. ...so we had a similar background. His is a lot more extensive than mine, but we just had a similar movement quality. That’s why he decided to feature me, I think. I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but I feel that it helped a little bit.IDS: What does it mean to work with people that have the extensive background like Bergasse?Lingner: It’s really inspiring. They know how to bring so much out of you and just make you a better dancer through the experience. Learning how people like that, when we want to go out and work professionally, we are better-suited and more prepared for what it’s really like out there.IDS: What advice has Bergasse given you regarding your performances?Lingner: He’s really helped me to really feel the music — become the music — through the movement. His choreography really goes so well with David Baker’s music that was created for this piece. When you see it, you can really feel the detail that goes into it — whether it’s sharp or soft in the moment. ...the accents and the down-beats. ...it’s really helped me get a feel for that kind of thing.IDS: In your featured performance, The Baker Dances, what comes across through the music, which Baker produced, that is used in this production?Lingner: There are three movements, none of them necessarily connecting. It’s like jazz band music. The first movement, which is the one that I’m featured in, it’s like a murder-mystery. I almost think of a film-noir kind of feeling. ‘It was a dark and stormy night, and that’s when I saw the dead body.’ (chuckles).The second movement, I’d say there is a very foxy feel to it. It’s very seductive. The ladies are on-point, but they’re doing very jazzy movement.The third movement, it’s almost like a Latin party. It’s almost like a samba. It’s a lot of fun, and really upbeat.IDS: What kinds of things should students expect from this performance?Lingner: The performance as a whole would actually be a great way to get exposed to dance in general. We have a modern dance piece by Twyla Tharp, which is completely different than everything else. We have two classical ballet pieces by George Balanchine. And, then, we have The Baker Dances, which is all kind of the jazz; some of it has sort of a Broadway feel to it.So we have three different styles of dance. It’d almost be like a combo platter — you get a little bit of everything. It’d be a good way for people to figure out what they like.
(10/07/10 5:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Michael Vernon, the chairman of the IU Ballet Department, is the artistic director of the department’s upcoming production, “A Choreographer’s Evening.” He offered insight into the technical aspects of the production, as well as the emotion displayed through dance.IDS What went into planning this production?Vernon I have ideas up to two years out, so this one was planned at least 18 months ago.IDS Could you talk a bit about what audience members can expect from “The Baker Dances,” which will premiere at this performance?Vernon In what Josh (Bergasse) has choreographed, he has used three pieces of David (Baker’s) music. So he’s used three sections from three different musics. None of the sections are related. They’re not related musically, and they’re not related choreographically. Josh, in fact, has done three different ballets and put it under one roof of David Baker, under one title. That’s what’s so interesting about it. You’ll actually be seeing three short ballets — all to David Baker, all choreographed by Josh Bergasse, all with a different look, all with a different feel.IDS Will there be breaks in-between the shifts in music, or does the performance all flow together?Vernon There are tiny pauses, but not more than 15 seconds. Just for the musicians to change or turn the pages, for the dancers to take a bow. Basically, they run on. There’s no big pause.IDS What about the other two choreographers’ — Balanchine and Tharp — performances? What can viewers expect from those?Vernon George Balanchine is famous for his visualization of the music. He has — and I put this in italics — he’s modernized classical ballet. He’s made it very fast, very dynamic, very precise, very exciting.Basically, what you’re seeing is a visualization of the music on stage. His ballets really move. As a young person would say these days, they really rock. They really go somewhere.Twyla, her movement is what we would call contemporary ballet. It is definitely based on ballet, but it is a much more contemporary approach. That is a really hard thing for the dancers to learn because her movements themselves aren’t related. She’ll do one movement, and then do another unrelated movement. Normally in ballet, one movement leads to another — like I’m talking, one sentence or phrase leads to another. Well, she dances in disjointed phrases.It’s very, very interesting. It’s mesmerizing.IDS What is the difference, in your opinion, between a vocal performance and a performance like ballet? What are the differences in the way the messages display themselves?Vernon If we talk about opera, opera is very static, so it’s a much more intellectual approach, but still the music inspires you. This is just more immediate. Personally, I think dance relates better to a younger audience. It relates to everyone, but I think young people should come and see the ballet because they will relate more to it. The performers are being themselves 99 percent of the time, so they’re displaying the same emotions that other undergraduates are feeling. IDS So, in your opinion, dance is easier to relate to for a contemporary audience?Vernon Exactly. There are contemporary operas. I don’t want to get the opera department into a tiff, but I think more of ballet is relatable to younger people, just because of the age you have to be as a dancer. Whereas a singer can be mature in her 40s, a dancer’s career is over at 40. That’s one of the biggest contrasts between most art forms and ballet. Artists can go on until they’re 80 or 90, and so can composers, but dancers can’t. IDS What can someone who is unfamiliar with ballet learn from “A Choreographer’s Evening?”Vernon Ballet is art, and art exists for a reason. Art has been around, I guess, since the beginning of time. It started as a record of what people are doing, and it has become something that we learn about ourselves from.When you listen to music, whether it’s classical music or rock music, whatever your personality, it touches something. Somehow, you understand. You have a kinship with it. All art is the same, and ballet is the same, too. I think ballet is very special because it’s very physical. It’s about people — people in space and people dancing with each other and people relating to each other. There’s always something to be learned and something that can be recognized.You don’t need to be told a story. Dance should speak for itself. Dance is its own language. ...This evening will make people wish they were dancers.
(10/07/10 5:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>David Baker is a world-renowned composer with more than 2,000 works to his name. His work in jazz, symphonic and chamber music has earned him Grammy Award nominations as well as an Emmy Award in 2003. The IDS spoke with 2001’s Indiana Living Legend honoree about the pieces being used in The Baker Dances, part of the IU Ballet Department’s next production A Choreographer’s Evening.IDS: How long had you been working with choreographer Josh Bergasse on The Baker Dances?Baker: This is music that was written some time ago. I sent him a number of my CDs, and he chose the pieces he would like to do.IDS: What makes this production different from the other three ballets you’ve produced?Baker: I think the span of time and styles is very much different. The choreographer, who just got through last year doing West Side Story, of course gives it a very special meaning in my mind, because I think that West Side Story is one of the greatest musicals of the last century.IDS: What does it mean to have choreographers as acclaimed as him working with the Jacobs School of Music?Baker: This is one of the big-time choreographers. He had asked me to send him CDs, and I’m assuming he made the choices. It’s deeply flattering when it’s somebody with a name like his.IDS: What should people expect from this performance?Baker: I think they can expect to see many of the things that make up my style. I’ve written lots of music for symphony orchestras, including New York Philharmonic and others, but I think most people know me as a jazz musician. Consequently, they’re going to see a very pleasant mixture of those two because I can’t deny who I am. Those are the things that are built in.IDS: Have you communicated at all with the IU students who are performing?Baker: That’s the responsibility of the choreographer, and I trust their judgment. From what I could see on the stage last night, it’s dynamite.IDS: What did you see from the performers?Baker: It’s distinctively modern, and the dancers are absolutely superb. This does not look like a student production. These are really young professionals, many of whom are going to have major careers in dance — at least by my estimation.
(09/28/10 4:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Research performed by a non-departmental organization at IU could help sustain the world supply of chocolate — and the livelihoods of millions of farmers in West Africa and other regions.The IU Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics aided in the completion of the first mapping of the cacao tree genome, which produces the beans used to make cocoa powder. The map was released to the public Sept. 15 and allows producers to pinpoint beneficial crop traits and improve tree breeding. “Putting a tree in the ground for your livelihood is a pretty big investment because it will take a while for you to benefit from that,” said Keithanne Mockaitis, leader of IU’s branch of the project. “With much better detail on the genome, breeders will be able to help farmers decide what to plant in their region that will be more likely to resist disease.”Mars Inc., the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the CGB and several other organizations partnered for the project. The goal of the research is to aid in the breeding of disease-resistant cacao plants.“You can’t really do that without a reference,” Mockaitis said. “We just built what is necessary to do all of these really informative experiments.”Disease causes an estimated $700 million in dead-loss for cacao farmers each year, according to the USDA. In regions such as West Africa, which produces 70 percent of the world’s cocoa, such losses can cripple economic growth. In 1989, Brazil provided a sobering example of what disease-related crop destruction can do to a nation’s economy. The country lost more than three-fourths of its cacao population to a tree-killing fungal disease known as witches’ broom.“Brazil was the fourth-largest exporter of cocoa,” said David Kuhn, a molecular biologist with the USDA. “It became a net importer for its own domestic industry after witches’ broom swept through the cocoa-breeding region.”Breeding based on genetic mapping, known as marker-assisted selection, helps growers improve their crop. As of now, Mockaitis said, this research is the best defense against fallout like that seen in Brazil.“That wasn’t that long ago,” she said of Brazil’s outbreak. “It’s not like all of a sudden we have all of these agricultural technologies outside of the plant that are so effective against this stuff. We don’t. And that’s why the genetics is so important.”The CGB began its work with the project in early 2009 and has provided several technological assets. The equipment available to the CGB is cutting-edge, Research Associate Zach Smith said. The three pieces of mapping equipment alone are worth more than $1 million, and several components are unavailable elsewhere. These resources brought the CGB an extended grant from Mars Inc. that will last a full year. The University also sees several benefits from the CGB’s work. Researchers who go to Mockaitis with genome sequencing projects don’t have to pay as much for the center’s time, and while the group is partially funded by IU, it supports itself for the most part. Mockaitis said the current grant from Mars Inc. supplements the salaries of at least five people.“Grants like this have a very positive effect on research here,” she said. “We’re able to provide the newest thing at a reasonable cost to researchers here. Some centers have to do the old thing that’s just written in the book because they can’t afford to experiment.”The success of the cacao project has also given national attention to the work of Mockaitis and her staff.“A demonstrated ability to use the technologies has given us a higher profile for competing for funding for other types of projects,” Mockaitis said.Kuhn credited the CGB researchers as essential contributors to mapping the genome and discovering the functions of genes.“We would not have been able to assemble the genome without those two contributions,” he said. “That’s absolute fact.”
(09/23/10 8:48pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The definition of IU Athletics hides from no one.It wraps itself around the wrist of IU Athletics Director Fred Glass. It sits on a circular, purple-red desk in the office of IU women’s tennis coach Lin Loring. It embeds itself on the back of the new scoreboard in the South End Zone of Memorial Stadium. It makes itself known on the shirts of Hoosier athletes, hangs from the tongues of Hoosier coaches and comes from what administrators define as “Hoosier values.” It has been called “corny,” “groundbreaking” and “the greatest thing since ice cream.” It is a declaration of what IU Athletics is, a depiction of what IU Athletics wants to be and a description of how IU Athletics will get there.It is more than a slogan. It is a way of life.It is “The Spirit of Indiana: 24 Sports, One Team.”The pride in his tearsFor Mark Deal, IU’s assistant athletic director for football operations and a former Hoosier football player himself, it isn’t a struggle to show love for his alma mater.Mark Deal is the son of Russ Deal, an All-American in football and member of IU’s 1945 Big Ten championship team. His brother, Mike Deal, played on the Hoosier football squad that won the Big Ten championship in 1967 and went on to play in the Rose Bowl. Next came Mark Deal’s turn. From ‘75 to ’78, he played center for then-coach Lee Corso. From his parents to his children, every member of Mark Deal’s immediate family has gone to IU for the past three generations. As he tells people, the Deals don’t put up with “that ‘House Divided’ shit.” He has a picture on his cell phone of the “I” his team put on the Old Oaken Bucket on Nov. 19, 1977, when they beat Purdue 21-10 at Memorial Stadium. Two days before Christmas of 1996, he took the Bucket back to his home in Hobart, Ind., for Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner. This man does not go out of his way to show his pride — the pride goes out of its way to show itself.“It’s not put on,” Mark Deal said. “It’s not bullshit. I cry before every game — that’s how emotional I get.”Reprogramming the next generationThe administration of the department, led by Glass, is trying to instill the passion exemplified by Mark Deal into the current class of Hoosiers through the “24 Sports, One Team” mentality. The movement, Glass said, is essential to filling in the gaps caused by the “highly-routinized lifestyle” seen in athletes today.“We’re in an era where kids, especially athletes, are highly programmed,” Glass said. “All of the practices are scheduled, and the games are scheduled. ...They come here having perhaps not had as much opportunity to fail.”Lack of experience with failure often causes young athletes to shut down the first time they fall short of their goals. That led Glass and IU’s coaches to develop the Excellence Academy — a comprehensive plan including required classes, community service, assessment of players’ attributes and reflection from the players themselves.The process begins freshman year with each student-athlete taking assessment tests to determine his or her skill sets, character traits and interests. Included in these evaluations are the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Nelson-Denny Reading Test, tools often used by psychologists and educators. This system, Glass said, is one-of-a-kind.“I don’t think anybody else in the country is doing this,” he said. “I think it will really distinguish us dramatically from our competition.”Because IU is the most underfunded athletics department among public universities in the Big Ten, Glass believes such a product is necessary to gain an edge.“This is how we beat people,” he said. “It’s creative, it’s a product of hard work, it’s not expensive and it distinguishes us from our competition.” Loring, who has coached at IU for more than three decades, said the strategy, along with improvements in facilities, gives himself and the department’s other 23 coaches all they need to keep up with other schools in the conference.“If we can be in the middle of the Big Ten, we can compete,” he said. “We don’t have to win the arms race. We just have to be in the middle.”Players have also responded well to the idea. Jordan Hulls, a sophomore guard on the IU men’s basketball team, grew up in Bloomington. He was Indiana’s Mr. Basketball during his senior year of high school and led the Bloomington High School South Panthers to an undefeated season. He “got” the Spirit of IU.Or at least he thought he did. When he set foot on campus in fall 2009, he discovered how different the Indiana culture is.“When you get here, you definitely see the family that we build here,” Hulls said. “All these different people from across the country come here, and they all love IU. Whether you’re from Alabama or you’re from Bloomington, everybody came here for a reason — because they know the rich tradition that IU has to offer.”More than ‘hollow words’There is only one thing that Mark Deal does to help make sure football players “get it” when they arrive on campus to begin summer workouts.He teaches them how to sing the fight song the way he knows best — the football way.The team goes through the song three times. The first time, the players sing the song just as they would along with the fans and the band. For the next go-around, they sing it softly, barely above a whisper, and snap their fingers along with the lyrics. In the final refrain, the Hoosiers belt the lyrics, shouting as loudly as possible and clapping with feverish vigor. This, Mark Deal said, is their time.“They get indoctrinated in it right then,” he said. “Then, hopefully, they see it for the next four or five years.”It’s a step toward becoming what Mark Deal calls an “Indiana man” — a step toward understanding the IU culture, and a step toward understanding the Spirit of IU and identifying with the “24 Sports, One Team” mentality. It’s a mentality Mark Deal said is as genuine as his feelings for the University.“That’s not a motto,” he said. “That is Indiana.”
(09/02/10 4:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU preserved its rivalry with Purdue in the finalization of the new Big Ten football subdivisions.Big Ten conference commissioner Jim Delany presented the divisions and conference schedules for the 2011-12 football seasons Wednesday, less than three months after announcing Nebraska’s acceptance of its invitation to the Big Ten.The decision to realign the conference into two divisions came after Nebraska, which officially becomes a part of the Big Ten on July 1, 2011, decided to leave the Big 12.“We had a lot of issues trying to turn this around in one year,” said Delany, who officially began the expansion search following a release on Dec. 15, 2009. “We came in the room together, we had our differences, but we came out of the room together.”The subdivisions were unanimously approved by both the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors, which IU president Michael McRobbie chairs, and the conference’s athletics directors.“We felt they did a very good job of preserving storied rivalries while maintaining a competitive balance across the conference,” McRobbie said. “We’re convinced that these new alignments will bring even more excitement and fan interest to Big Ten football competition.”Keeping the conferencesequally competitive, maintaining traditions and rivalries and geography were all given due diligence in the decision, Delany said.“We want to see how it goes,” he said. “We really want to see how the fans respond, how the teams respond. ... We are excited about it.”Rivalries such as Michigan-Ohio State and Purdue-IU have been preserved. Each will take place at the end of the regular season. Of the 12 “trophy games” in the Big Ten, Delany said nine or 10 will remain per year. The other rivalries will not play out annually.“That doesn’t mean they’re going away,” he said. “They’ll just occur less frequently.”IU Athletics Director Fred Glass said he is pleased with the current schedule.“Our conference is really built on tradition, and that kind of applies to IU as well,” he said. “I like it that the Old Oaken Bucket is the last game of the year.”Each team will play eight conference games per year under the constraints of the current schedule — all five teams within its division, one cross-division game that remains constant from year to year and two cross-division games that change every two years.“What that will mean is that you will rotate through that,” Delany said. In a 10-year period, IU will play each of the five teams in the opposing division.A nine-game conference season is also being considered following the Big Ten’s obligations. The system appeals to Delany, although the additional matchup wouldn’t begin until 2015 at the earliest.“We don’t want to play each other less,” Delany said. “We want to play each other more.” The addition of a conference game would also draw more revenue for teams with five-game home conference schedules and provide Big Ten teams with fewer games than they have to pay non-conference opponents to play.Out-of-conference teams are paid guarantees, or money in advance, for playing schools in their home stadiums. Glass said guarantees for bringing teams to play in Bloomington can cost anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million.Glass said he supports adding a ninth conference game not only for profits, but also because Big Ten games offer tougher challenges for the teams than non-conference opponents.“It’s great for us from a revenue perspective, and it’s great from a competition standpoint,” he said.Delany said he sees the Big Ten subdivisions standing for the next 50 years. However, that would end the possibility of further expansion for the conference.After Nebraska’s decision to join the Big Ten, Delany said he asked members of the Big Ten Council whether the conference should consider further expansion. The Council decided to take no further action and reconsider the subject this coming December.“In December. ... we’ll decide if this is a pause, or if it’s a period,” Delany said.
(09/02/10 4:16am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU preserved its rivalry with Purdue in the finalization of the new Big Ten football subdivisions.Big Ten conference commissioner Jim Delany presented the divisions and conference schedules for the 2011-12 football seasons Wednesday, less than three months after announcing Nebraska’s acceptance of its invitation to the Big Ten.The decision to realign the conference into two divisions came after Nebraska, which officially becomes a part of the Big Ten on July 1, 2011, decided to leave the Big 12.“We had a lot of issues trying to turn this around in one year,” said Delany, who officially began the expansion search following a release on Dec. 15, 2009. “We came in the room together, we had our differences, but we came out of the room together.”The subdivisions were unanimously approved by both the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors, which IU president Michael McRobbie chairs, and the conference’s athletics directors.“We felt they did a very good job of preserving storied rivalries while maintaining a competitive balance across the conference,” McRobbie said. “We’re convinced that these new alignments will bring even more excitement and fan interest to Big Ten football competition.”Keeping the conferencesequally competitive, maintaining traditions and rivalries and geography were all given due diligence in the decision, Delany said.“We want to see how it goes,” he said. “We really want to see how the fans respond, how the teams respond. ... We are excited about it.”Rivalries such as Michigan-Ohio State and Purdue-IU have been preserved. Each will take place at the end of the regular season. Of the 12 “trophy games” in the Big Ten, Delany said nine or 10 will remain per year. The other rivalries will not play out annually.“That doesn’t mean they’re going away,” he said. “They’ll just occur less frequently.”IU Athletics Director Fred Glass said he is pleased with the current schedule.“Our conference is really built on tradition, and that kind of applies to IU as well,” he said. “I like it that the Old Oaken Bucket is the last game of the year.”Each team will play eight conference games per year under the constraints of the current schedule — all five teams within its division, one cross-division game that remains constant from year to year and two cross-division games that change every two years.“What that will mean is that you will rotate through that,” Delany said. In a 10-year period, IU will play each of the five teams in the opposing division.A nine-game conference season is also being considered following the Big Ten’s obligations. The system appeals to Delany, although the additional matchup wouldn’t begin until 2015 at the earliest.“We don’t want to play each other less,” Delany said. “We want to play each other more.” The addition of a conference game would also draw more revenue for teams with five-game home conference schedules and provide Big Ten teams with fewer games than they have to pay non-conference opponents to play.Out-of-conference teams are paid guarantees, or money in advance, for playing schools in their home stadiums. Glass said guarantees for bringing teams to play in Bloomington can cost anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million.Glass said he supports adding a ninth conference game not only for profits, but also because Big Ten games offer tougher challenges for the teams than non-conference opponents.“It’s great for us from a revenue perspective, and it’s great from a competition standpoint,” he said.Delany said he sees the Big Ten subdivisions standing for the next 50 years. However, that would end the possibility of further expansion for the conference.After Nebraska’s decision to join the Big Ten, Delany said he asked members of the Big Ten Council whether the conference should consider further expansion. The Council decided to take no further action and reconsider the subject this coming December.“In December. ... we’ll decide if this is a pause, or if it’s a period,” Delany said.
(06/10/10 6:04pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sep. 15, 2008 – Ranging from the tall, muscular senior Owen Dickey to the slim, witty sophomore William Peabody to the everyday senior Brian Pike, club sports at IU host a variety of interests and styles.For these three students, each has found a passion.Dickey participates in rugby, while Peabody is an active participant in rowing and Pike practices hapkido.“(Club sports) are an excellent program,” said Pike, the hapkido club’s president. “It’s a great opportunity for students to try something new and exciting.”With more than 40 clubs ranging from aikido to bass fishing to volleyball, IU offers a variety of sporting options to students who want to try something new or continue to pursue a passion they have held throughout their lives.Club sports are also student-run, allowing students to learn time and money management, recruiting practices, organization and other real-world skills.People join club sports for a variety of reasons. Some, like club rowing president Ryan Ginty, just want to try something different.“I basically just saw a flier and wanted to try something totally brand-new,” he said. “Rowing is certainly that.”Others, such as men’s lacrosse president Ben Kalfas, have played on a national level and bring their passion to IU.“I transferred mid-year my freshman year, and I was playing Division I at the Air Force Academy,” Kalfas said, “so I contacted the coach and expressed my interest in playing.”No matter the reason for joining, students can find camaraderie and their own niche at IU through club sports.“Clubs in general connect a pretty significant portion of the student body with the actual campus itself,” said Dickey, who serves as the men’s rugby president. “That way, it’s not just school work. You do something else.”Besides connecting members of the IU community, club sports give students an opportunity to compete on a higher level than intramural sports offer while retaining the ability to remain committed to other aspects of college life.“I think that sports are so important, and not everyone can be on a varsity sport,” said Samantha Silverman, the senior president and coach of the women’s lacrosse team.She added that with a club sport, students still have time to keep up with academics.“As far as intramural sports go, it’s fun to compete with your classmates, but competing against other universities is taking it to the next level,” said Peabody, captain and vice president of rowing. “I think it’s a great opportunity for kids to get involved and to compete on a level that not many people have a chance of doing.”Another part of the appeal of club sports is the ability to compete with others who share a passion for what they do and to share the love of a sport with others.“Club sports, to a certain extent, are the purest form of sport at the school,” Dickey said. “We play the sport because we truly love the sport. It’s not in an effort to get a scholarship or to play professionally or to get some sort of contract.”One thing members of club sports agree on is that the benefits of joining a sport far outweigh the costs that come with it. While clubs can vary between three and 15 hours of commitment per week, they all share the same positive aspects that make them worthwhile to their participants.“It seems like it might be a time constraint, which really is a pain, but for the most part, it is a positive thing,” Kalfas said. “It really gives you something to be proud of. I’ve played the D-I level, but this is something completely different because this is a student-run thing. Nothing happens without us doing it. It’s really something we can be proud of.”One possibility for students who cannot find what they are looking for among the variety of club sports on campus is to create their own. Club Filipino Martial Arts President Tony Martin Spitz did just that, and, despite the difficulties of the task, feels his efforts were worth it.“It was really difficult,” Spitz said. “It took a lot of finding sponsors and instructors and putting the word out. Club sports can be a rewarding experience to students if they take the chance to try them.”
(06/10/10 12:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU men’s basketball team improved its academic standing enough to prevent further NCAA penalties, according to the Academic Progress Rate report released Wednesday by the NCAA.IU coach Tom Crean’s group, which earned a 3.16 GPA during the spring semester, brought its one-year APR of 811 in 2007-08 to 975 during the 2008-09 campaign, a jump of 164 points. Crean, who led the Marquette men’s basketball squad to scores higher than 970 in his last four years with the program, said this type of academic success is what he expects of his players.“Our track record at Marquette and Indiana shows we have never paid lip service to academics, and, moving forward, as we build it back up, we never will,” Crean said in a statement. “For our players to be taught by the incredible faculty at this institution is a privilege and not a right.”APR is calculated using a point system. Players can earn a maximum of two points per term — one for remaining academically eligible to play and one for remaining enrolled at their institution. This number is then divided by the total number of points an institution could earn. The APR is based on a four-year calculation — in the case of the 2010 APR, IU’s 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons were used. Using the three previous years offsets the 2008-09 score of 975, bringing the Hoosiers’ mark during the entire period to 878. The biggest detriment to the team’s score was the fact that the end of Mike Davis’ and Kelvin Sampson’s coaching at IU fell in this four-year period, IU Athletics Director Fred Glass said.“Mike Davis’ APR in his last year was 826, and Sampson in his last year was 811, and those just dramatically dragged down the overall average,” Glass said.While this number is still below the score of 900 needed to avoid what are known as “historic penalties,” the 12-point overall improvement in four-year APR was enough to prevent further sanctions by the NCAA. IU received a two-scholarship reduction following its APR report in 2009 (which the University served during the 2008-09 season) and a public notice. After the notice, further and stricter penalties could be analyzed.Several changes within the department allowed Crean’s team to reach the IU varsity sport average of 975 in APR.. Glass said the athletics department simplified its structure, allowing one member of the senior staff to focus on solely academics. He also oversaw the reduction of senior staff by a third, allowing IU to hire another academic adviser who worked with only the men’s basketball team. Finally, an adviser traveled with the team during its road games to ensure the student-athletes had help when away from Bloomington, if needed. The department also jumped from last in the Big Ten in terms of space for academic work to fourth with the construction of a student-athlete academic center in the North End Zone Facility in Memorial Stadium.“There’s a lot of good things to talk about,” Glass said. “Student-athletes are delivering the bacon on this, but it’s coaches and — to a lesser extent, but importantly — University administration support that I think is pushing us in the right direction.”
(05/10/10 12:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Athletics Department added a new administrator — one who has worked for the NCAA since 1999 — as the replacement for the current senior associate athletics director for Compliance and Administration.IU Athletics Director Fred Glass said the new hire, Julie Cromer, is a “nationally recognized expert” in compliance, certification, governance, gender equity and academic reform. She will replace Mary Ann Rohleder, who is retiring, at the beginning of July. Rohleder has worked in the department for 17 years.“Mary Ann Rohleder’s shoes will be very large to fill,” Glass said. “She is an outstanding compliance professional, and beyond that, she was someone whose council I relied on a great deal. “I think Julie is certainly of the caliber to do just that — fill those shoes and take it even beyond that.”Cromer has served as the NCAA’s Director of Academic and Membership Affairs since 2003, where she launched the Facilitating Learning and Achieving Graduation program and directed the Academic Progress Rate programs for the NCAA.“The fact that she was interested is a real coup for us,” Glass said. “We reached out to recruit her as much as she pursued the job with us.”Cromer said the position appealed to her because Glass has made compliance his No. 1 priority.“I was particularly drawn to the position, in part, because of the commitment to integrity and to compliance as a priority on the campus, but, in larger part, because of the reputation of IU and the fine people working in the athletic department there,” she said.Cromer is, like Glass’ last hire — IU men’s soccer coach Todd Yeagley — an IU graduate with Indiana ties. She graduated Friday from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs with a Master of Public Affairs in Policy.“It’s a huge bonus that she is a Hoosier, not only in terms of having lived in the state ... but is a Hoosier in terms being an alumnus of the University,” Glass said.Her experiences at IU as a student, Cromer said, were helpful in making the decision to accept the position.“My graduate schooling at IU is something that was well underway long before I started talking to Fred about coming to work for the athletic department, but certainly, through an opportunity to be academically engaged with the IU system, I have a strong affinity for Indiana University,” she said. She said her strong background in compliance will allow her to offer a credible perspective on national rules and regulations.“I think the thing that I can bring is the ability to translate what happens nationally at the campus level and to take the rules and translate them into their real-life situations,” she said.Attracting Cromer, an experienced member of a national organization dedicated to the field, is a sign of departmental progress, Glass said.“It’s a real statement that IU Athletics is a destination for athletic administration professionals,” he said. “It is somewhat an endorsement of what we’ve done over the last year and a half to reestablish the credibility of the department.”